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Autumn


The Red Maple Spreads Its Wings


The Red Maple Spreads Its Wings
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 2 to 3
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.65

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    lonely, helicopter, especially, longer, stayed, blown, town, seedling, tips, center, sunlight, enough, blanket, visit, change, late
     content words:    Cooler September


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Other Languages
     Spanish: El Arce Rojo Extiende sus Alas


The Red Maple Spreads Its Wings
By Joyce Furstenau
  

1     The lonely red maple tree in the town square began to feel a change in the weather. Cooler September air sent chills up and down its branches. As the sap that once ran through its branches began to turn sugary, its leaves began to lose their bright green color. Autumn days passed, and the red maple's leaves slowly turned from yellow to orange, and finally, a brilliant red.
 
2     After every leaf on the tree had turned completely red, they began falling. By the middle of October, only a few leaves were left on the tree. There were still some clumps of brown maple seeds clinging to the tips of a few branches. The seeds appeared to have wings, and when they fell, they twirled around and around, like helicopters coming in for a landing.
 
3     One blustery October day, a big gust of wind blew through the square. The wind brought down the last of the seed clusters, and seeds were scattered everywhere. They were blown down the street and into nooks and crannies from here to there. Some seeds were carried over the fields into far away places. When the wind finally quit, the seeds stayed where they landed on the ground all winter long. An icy blanket of snow covered them for many weeks.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
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